The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder (ADF) for use with an image forming apparatus and, more particularly, to an ADF which frees the operator from extra work associated with documents discharged after illumination, e.g., rearranging them in order of page.
An ADF is extensively used with a copier or similar image forming apparatus for automatically feeding a plurality of documents to a scanning position one by one. As the ADF feeds such a document to the scanning position, the document is illuminated to reproduce an image thereof on a sheet. The sheet carrying the document image, i.e. a copy is driven out via a fixing station. It is desirable to free the operator from extra work associated with the copies driven out of the image forming apparatus, e.g., rearranging them in order of page or to allow such copies to be automatically stapled by a stapler. For this purpose, the operator is sometimes required to position a stack of documents in a particular manner on the table of the ADF, e.g., face up, face down, or the first page or the last page at the bottom. In some positions of the documents, therefore, the operator has to rearrange the pages or otherwise handle the documents having been discharged from the ADF thereby wasting time and labor.